Uruk is a libre GNU/Linux distribution from Iraq, that tries to ship an operating system with 100% free software packages without compromising much on user experience. To achieve this goal, Uruk includes packages from trisquel repositories and ships several free packages required to perform day to day activities. Also, it offers some useful components from LInux Mint.
Latest issue of distrowatch weekly(25th September 2016) features a review of Uruk 1.0, first most stable release of Uruk project. The reviewer observers that, Uruku is a good distribution with some worthy goals, however currently there is no much difference between trisquel 7 and Uruk 1.0. There is a long way to for Uruk project to travel, before becoming an established GNU/Linux distribution that offers something unique, some that other distributions does not offer.
Latest issue of distrowatch weekly(25th September 2016) features a review of Uruk 1.0, first most stable release of Uruk project. The reviewer observers that, Uruku is a good distribution with some worthy goals, however currently there is no much difference between trisquel 7 and Uruk 1.0. There is a long way to for Uruk project to travel, before becoming an established GNU/Linux distribution that offers something unique, some that other distributions does not offer.
Uruk ships with MATE as the default desktop environment and includes free software only. Uruk uses Trisquel as a base. Trisquel is, in turn, based on Ubuntu. In this case, Uruk is indirectly based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and is binary compatible with its grandparent distribution. The Uruk website claims the distribution can work with .rpm package files and can install software directly from source code. The website also mentions Uruk may be able to work with other package formats besides .deb and .rpm, but I was unable to find any documentation to indicate how this feature works.You can read complete review in distrowatch weekly.
Uruk version 1.0 is available in 32-bit and 64-bit builds for the x86 architecture. I downloaded the ISO file for the 64-bit build which is 1.2GB in size. Booting from this media brings up the MATE desktop. At the upper-left corner of the screen we find a single application menu. A clock sits at top-centre and the system tray is present in the upper-right corner. At the bottom of the screen is a launch panel with a handful of application quick-launch buttons. I found moving open windows toward the bottom of the screen would push the launch panel down and off the display. Raising the window toward the top of the screen would pull the panel back up. This action feels surprisingly nature and I like how the panel quietly gets out of the way when we need the extra screen space. On the desktop we find icons which open the file manager and launch the system installer.